The Australian sharemarket is edging slightly lower this morning following a mixed night on Wall Street. At noon, the S&P/ASX 200 is 0.04 per cent or 2.6 points higher at 7413.2. The SPI futures are pointing to a fall of 8 points.
Across the sectors, 7 out of 11 are in the red. Technology is dragging the lowest, down 1.1 per cent, followed by consumer discretionary, down 0.6 per cent, then communication services and health care, both down 0.3 per cent. Meanwhile, energy is dominating, up 1.6 per cent, followed by utilities, up 0.7 per cent.
Auto-parts retailer Bapcor
(ASX:BAP) extended its fall, down 3.8 per cent following the retirement of its CEO announced yesterday, while TechnologyOne
(ASX:TNE) is down 9.1 per cent following its full year results yesterday.
A number of tech stocks are weighing on the market, with WiseTech
(ASX:WTC) down 2.7 per cent and Afterpay
(ASX:APT) down 1.1 per cent. Investment company Pinnacle
(ASX:PNI) has dropped 14.2 per cent following its news of acquiring a 25 per cent stake in Five V Capital.
In headlines travel booking company Webjet
(ASX:WEB) is up 0.8 per cent, following its half-year results.
Energy stocks are performing strongly, led by Woodside Petroleum
(ASX:WPL) advancing 2.2 per cent and Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT), trading 3.2 per cent higher.
Local economic newsThe Australian Bureau of Statistics released the construction work data for the third quarter. Total construction work done fell 0.3 per cent to $53,926.2 million.
Building work done fell 0.9 per cent to $30,438.8 million. Engineering work done rose 0.4 per cent to $23,487.5 million.
Company news Health insurer Nib (ASX: NHF) has acquired a 50 per cent stake in Australian digital health start-up, Midnight Health for $4 million.
Webjet
(ASX:WEB) has taken off after the travel booking company delivered a positive working capital in the first half of the 2022 financial year as high booking volumes return.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector is Energy, up 1.6 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Information Technology, down 1.1 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT), trading 3.2 per cent higher at $1.29. It is followed by shares in PolyNovo
(ASX:PNV) and Lendlease Group
(ASX:LLC).
The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Bapcor
(ASX:BAP), trading 3.8 per cent lower at $7.18. It is followed by shares in WiseTech Global
(ASX:WTC) and Afterpay
(ASX:APT).
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1791.56 an ounce.
Iron ore is 5.0 per cent higher at US$99.45 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 1.97 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 72.21 US cents.
